About Us

We are specialists with over 18 years experience in delivering psychological therapies and counselling throughout Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. We recieve around 14,000 NHS referrals to our service each year and we employ over 100 therapists. The organisation is led by three Directors (Kevin Simpson, Catherine Collin and Dr Chris Hamilton), all of whom are practicing Clinical Psychologists.

Our service is part of the national Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme - see www.iapt.nhs.uk for more details. This programme is central to the Government’s plans to increase access to, and choice of, talking therapies across England.

Where you can find us

Our practitioners will often see patients in GP surgeries throughout the county. However, we also see people at our locality offices situated in the towns on the map below:

All our locality offices are designed to be comfortable spaces where our practitioners can see patients and carry out administrative work.

You can download a PDF showing instructions on how to get to a number of our locality offices, from the "Additional Resources" section below.

The Directors

Kevin Simpson

Kevin is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist. He has lived in Cornwall since 1990 and co-founded Outlook South West in 1998. He practices therapy using a cognitive behavioural approach and is an accredited EMDR practitioner. He follows Derby County Football Club ‘I am not supposed to enjoy it!’ and enjoys walking and cycling.

Catherine Collin MSc CPsychol

Catherine is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist, Accredited Practitioner and supervisor with BABCP and Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer in Psychological Therapies) University of Plymouth. Qualifying in 1984 and after 10 years of NHS experience in learning disability and mental health, she became an independent practitioner. Catherine specialised in group work and interpersonal skills training before developing her interest in primary care mental health and cognitive behaviour therapy. Combining her interest and skills in business development and CBT she became a founding partner in Outlook South West in 1998. Catherine has a family and lives near Fowey, spending any spare time sailing or gardening.

Dr Chris Hamilton

Chris has spent the past 15 years working within primary care in Cornwall. He has a keen interest in the assessment of anxiety and depression and retains a special interest in the medico-legal assessment and treatment of post-traumatic injuries (PTSD). Chris is the lead partner for the medico-legal services (Clear Psychology) and in 2008 completed his first book entitled “Cognitive Therapy in Practice – The Assessment and Treatment of Common Psychological Problems”. The book is largely based on clinical work over the past 15 years and is of particular relevance to those interested in working within this area.